Jane Miller: Teen looks to make his mark in motocross

Wednesday

Nick Neys, 16, is spending this week at Loretta Lynn's ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. He's not riding horses or camping - he's racing in the largest amateur motocross event in the world.

Nick Neys is spending this week at Loretta Lynn's ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.
He's not riding horses or camping - he's racing in the largest amateur motocross event in the world.
Neys, who is 16 and from Edelstein, Ill., earned the right to compete in the Air Nautiques/AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships by making it through a series of area and regional qualifying races.
He raced Wednesday and has additional motos today and Saturday in the Novice Stock and Open Novice classes.
"If you do really good, you can get a pro contract," said Neys, who will be a junior at Illinois Valley Central High School in the fall. "All the sponsors and teams and factories are there."
Three teenagers from last year's event were awarded pro deals after the race. Current stars Jeremy McGrath, Travis Pastrana, James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael have won championships at this event.
Since this is Neys' first time at this race, he has modest goals.
"If I could finish in the top 10 overall, I'd be happy," he said. "It's just good experience."
Change at the top
Brad Denney has been promoted to promoter of Spoon River Speedway, replacing his father, Morey, in that position.
The family has owned the track, located near Canton, since it was built in 1984.
The change takes effect this weekend.
"If we have over 20 UMP Modifieds, we'll pay $1,000 to win and $100 to start the feature," Denney said. "If we have over 40, it'll be $1,500 to win."
There will also be one-lap time trials to set starting positions and special races and give-aways.
Too dry?
Certainly the car/tire combination at Indianapolis last weekend was wrong, but the way the tire wore - turning to powder instead of marbles - was something no one had ever seen.
It makes you wonder if there was something amiss in the compound itself to make it do that.
It's obvious, and should have been obvious this year, that an open tire test is vital at Indianapolis.
And it was ridiculous on Goodyear's part to just punt and use last year's tires after the tires it brought to the three-car test in April weren't suitable.
How could they possibly have thought that would work?
Yes, NASCAR did the only thing it could when the circumstances became clear and completed the event without serious injury, but it was an insult to the fans that Goodyear came to a race of that magnitude so woefully unprepared.
Quarter Midgets
A national Quarter Midget race will take place in Taylorville starting Saturday and ending Aug. 9.
The Dirt Grands, put on by the Christian County Quarter Midget Association, is one of three Grands this season, the only one in the Midwest and the only one on dirt.
Quarter midgets are designed for children ages 5 through 16. Many professional drivers, including Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, got their start racing these cars.
Battling back
Caterpillar driver Dave Blaney battled back from the 41st starting position to finish 35 at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
His start at Pocono this weekend will be the 1,400th for Bill Davis Racing.
"We haven't been running as well in the past couple of races as we would like, obviously, so going back to some of these places for the second time should help us," Blaney said. "We've been trying some new things, and they haven't worked as well as we anticipated, so I think if we can get back to the basics we should be able to finish the season strong."
Pit stops
The 2009 IndyCar race at Chicagoland Speedway is Aug. 29, a Saturday. Look for it to be a night race. ... The 2009 MotoGP at Indianapolis will be on a different weekend than this year's race. Next year's race will be run Aug. 28-30 so as to avoid conflict with fall sports, the NFL in particular. This year's event is Sept. 14. ... Scott Speed has reportedly been testing a Sprint Cup car. He won his third ARCA race last weekend.
Jane Miller is the Peoria Journal Star motorsports columnist. She can be reached at jmiller@pjstar.com.

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